Analysis of The Descent Of The Muses

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow 1807 (Portland) – 1882 (Cambridge)



Nine sisters, beautiful in form and face,
Came from their convent on the shining heights
Of Pierus, the mountain of delights,
To dwell among the people at its base.
Then seemed the world to change. All time and space,
Splendor of cloudless days and starry nights,
And men and manners, and all sounds and sights,
Had a new meaning, a diviner grace.
Proud were these sisters, but were not too proud
To teach in schools of little country towns
Science and song, and all the arts that please;
So that while housewives span, and farmers ploughed,
Their comely daughters, clad in homespun gowns,
Learned the sweet songs of the Pierides.


Scheme ABBAABBACDECDA
Poetic Form
Metre 1101000101 1111010101 11010101 1101010111 1101111101 1011010101 0101001101 10110011 1011010111 1101110101 1001010111 111110101 110101011 1011101
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 625
Words 112
Sentences 5
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 14
Lines Amount 14
Letters per line (avg) 36
Words per line (avg) 8
Letters per stanza (avg) 501
Words per stanza (avg) 110
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 25, 2023

33 sec read
107

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was an American poet and educator whose works include "Paul Revere's Ride", The Song of Hiawatha, and Evangeline. more…

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